Welcome to the world of Craig Brummer. Craig has lived in many places, including Japan and Germany. Welcome, Craig ...

TELL
US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.

I
was born in Hollywood, FL and grew up in a time when we did not have all the
entertainment options we do today, so you either played outside or read books.
I did a lot of both and developed a love of the ocean and reading. I have lived
all over the United States, as well as several years in both Japan and Germany.
Today, I live in Atlanta with my wife and a house full of furry critters. Like
most authors, both indie and with the big 6 publishers, I have both a business
career and writing career. My day job is as a Vice President of Business
Development for a large service provider company, which requires a lot of
travelling and hectic work schedule. However, the time I have for writing is my
way of relaxing. Some people play golf; instead, I create stories and
characters in a new universe.

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?

Like most writers, I grew up with a love of reading.
My favourite authors as a young teenager where Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein,
and CJ Cherryh. I started writing about fifteen years ago and became active in
a writers’ group, Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Workshop, when I lived in that
area. Most writers are avid readers and most avid readers have thought of
writing. That’s how I became a writer. Stories that inspired me instilled in me
a desire to create my own universe and set of characters. I’ve completed several novels, but A New Beginning is my first novel I felt
worthy of publication.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

I love creating the story, the characters, the world
setting. To me, creating them is as enjoyable as watching a great movie. My
characters become friends, the world setting a place that I would be interested
in living. The process of writing a story is at times difficult, but always
enjoyable and rewarding as you finish each chapter. Of course, completing a
novel is always time for a little personal celebration.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

Currently I am working on the second novel set in
the Federation Universe. It is not a sequel to A New Beginning, but a standalone novel in the same setting. My
intention is to write a number of novels set in the Federation Universe (not to
be confused with the Star Trek universe). Some characters from one novel will
reappear in other novels but each novel will be a separate story.

WHAT
INSPIRES YOU?

The
potential of mankind. We live in a marvellous time with enormous capability
that can be used negatively or positively. We all know of the problems on our
lonely little planet and the struggles of everyday people. I write to show what
might be a potential future for us. I’d like to think that one day we will
colonize space and life as I write it will be an option for us.

WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?

I write Science Fiction in the sub-genre Space
Opera. A New Beginning has some
battle elements, but the story is not military oriented. In A New Beginning, the spacers are
rebelling against Earth’s control of them and setting up their own government.
But the main story is about a young earth girl, Kristin Hayes, who was an indentured
corporate worker, a slave really. She is sold to the spacers, and the story is
about how that changes her life and her pursuit of happiness.

WHO
IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?

My
favourite author is C.J. Cherryh and has been for ages, so of course she is a
major influence in my own writing. I think her novels Cyteen, Regenesis and
Downbelow Station were master works. I have 38 of her novels, which I think
is pretty much everything she’s written excluding short stories. I like her
writing style and her superb talent at creating new and exciting worlds. Her
characters are believable, as are the various worlds she creates.

DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE
PUBLICATION?

Yes. I think that’s critical for any book. Errors
cause the reader to “break” from the story. It disrupts their experience and
enjoyment of the story. As a writer, you simply cannot edit your own book.
You’ve read each paragraph many times and your mind knows what should be there,
so you don’t see the errors. We’ve all seen some of the indie authors who have
received poor reviews over the lack of editing in their books. As an avid
reader myself, I have to mention that lately I’ve read a couple books from one
of the big 6 publishers that were poorly edited, and now I’m avoiding that
imprint.

DO
YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS?

No,
not really. However, as a writer you do instil in characters certain of your
viewpoints, or either opposing viewpoints. As I develop characters, they may
have traits of people I’ve known or some mixing of traits and views of various
people I’ve known. Of course, there are other characters that are created
simply because they fit a certain role in the story. When I’m developing a
story I start with the lead character, the protagonist, and then build the
story around them. The other characters are all created to help or hinder the
protagonist, and that often drives what traits they possess.

DOES
THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?

No,
not at all. I had a lot of exposure to agents and publishers when I was in the
DFW Writers Workshop. Also, my daughter was an agent with one of the New York
literary firms for about eight years. So I am pretty familiar with the traditional
publishing industry. What really excites me today is the potential that Amazon
brought to the world by opening the door to indie authors. Previously, the big
6 firms controlled what was available to read; today, that is not the case. For
instance, there was clearly a market for many more romance novels, especially
in certain sub-genres, that the big 6 were not meeting. That gap has been
filled by some very talented indie authors. I find the process of indie
publishing to be very exciting and enjoyable. As an indie author, I decide on
the artist for my cover and exactly what the cover will look like, who will
edit and format the book, and of course create my own marketing plan to let
readers know the book is available.

HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO DESIGNING A BOOK COVER?

A book cover is
important. It’s the thing that attracts a reader to the book to see if they
might be interested in it. I think the cover should convey what’s inside; it
should hint at the story line. For A New
Beginning, I had a young German artist, Djamila Knopf, do the artwork. She
did a great job of capturing what I envisioned as Kristin Hayes right after she
has been sold to the spacers but before she really knows anything about them.
She is sitting staring out a window at the vastness of space, wondering what
the future holds for her which is the story. www.SGWdesign.com also
did a fantastic job on the cover layout and book formatting.

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

Well, yes. I
would like to add where you can get a copy of A New Beginning.

The ereader
(Kindle & Nook) version were released April 20th, the print
version will be released May 2nd.

I am also in
discussions to have an audio version done, but that will not be out until late
June, possible early July. If someone wants to track the release dates or
additional information,my website is: http://www.CraigBrummer.com

I would also
like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to your audience and let them
know about my novel.

Clancy's comment: My pleasure. Agree with you about characters becoming friends. I guess that is because we spend so much time with them. Thanks for your time, Craig. Best of luck.

Many
of you may not know that Australia has been the recipient of many migrants
since the day it was established as a penal colony in 1788. The gold rush of
the 1850's brought countless people to this country. However, post-war, there
was a massive influx of migrants who I think have made an extraordinary
contribution to this nation. Example? About five years ago, every State Premier
and Governor was a second generation Australian, including the Governor
General.

I
began my working life as an Immigration Officer and it became one of the
biggest influences in my life. Having said that, I recall a senior officer
making a comment at a training course - one I never forgot,'To leave your homeland and begin a new
life in another country is the biggest decision you'll ever make.'

Today,
I feature a man who did just that. He and his family came from Greece, made
great sacrifices and worked hard to become an Australian success story in
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

May
I respectfully introduce Mr. Alfred Kouris.

Alfred Kouris was born in July 1927 at Halepa,
in the Chania district of Crete, Greece. His father, Paul Kouris, was born in
the island of Kefalonia, Greece in 1900 and worked for the National Bank of
Greece in Chania. His father was a High Court Judge. Paul in Chania met
Antigone - the daughter of the local magistrate, George Polioudakis from Sphakia,
fell in love and decided to get married in 1922. They stayed in Crete until
1932. Then Alfredos' Father was posted by the National Bank to Peloponisos, and
finally in 1938 Paul and Antigone Kouris moved to Athens.

Mr and Mrs Kouris

Alfred - (called
Alfredos in Greek) - his sister Thalia, (a famous actress in the '40s in the
Greek Drama Theatre, was also born in Chania in 1924 and youngest brother,
George, was born also in Agios Nikolaos of Crete in 1932. Alfredos finished his
Secondary Education in Athens and Political Sciences in "Panteio
University", completed his two years national service in the Greek army
and married on the 6th of January 1954 to Euthymia loannidou, who was born in
Athens.

On the 14th of
April 1955 their son Paul was born in a clinic in "Monastiraki" of
Athens. Although Alfred was well educated, he could not get a job in the Navy
and /or the Greek Foreign Office and decided to start a shirt manufacturing
business with his wife under the name of "FAVORY SHIRTS". Needless to
say, the competition was so hard that in February 1956, Alfred and Euthymia
(Mitsi) decided to immigrate to Australia and departed on the vessel
"KYREINIA".

On the 16th of March 1956 they arrived in Melbourne and
two days after they started work at the famous “Pelaco” factory in Richmond,
cutting and making shirts. Within six months they bought their own brand new
house in Glenroy - on terms, their own car, a little Morris Minor, and started
their own business: "The Hellas Professional Training School for Clothing
Machinists" on the corner of Elizabeth St. & Lonsdale St. in a three-storey
old city building, where today is the Myer Emporium.

In 1958 they moved the Hellas
School to 343 Elizabeth St. (corner of Latrobe St.), started another business
under the name "Primo Clothing Pty Ltd" and did very well. In 1960
they brought their mother from overseas and in 1961, also his brother, George
Kouris, with his wife Helen and one year old son, Paul - from Greece - and made
him equal partner in "Primo Clothing", making jerkins, waist­coats
and casual wear. The said business grew rapidly until 1964 when the economy
started to go down the drain and manufacturing was no longer profitable.

Alfred and George
decided at this stage to start a retailing business. They rented a shop at 246
Swanston St. Melbourne, next to Stanley Young (Giannopoulos) in 1964, giving
their new venture the name 'ALFREDOS' MENSWEAR Pty Ltd’.

By 1967 the
retailing business was doing very well and the Kouris Bros. decided to open a
second shop in the golden corner of Foys Ltd, Swanston & Bourke St., at
number 263, giving it the name 'ALFREDOS' of Bourke St. Pty Ltd".

In 1968, the
Kouris Brothers opened, at 443 Bourke street, a third "Alfredos' Menswear
shop " and a fourth " Alfredos' Dollies Boutique", and in 1969 a
fifth "Alfredos' Menswear Shop" and a sixth "Alfredos' Dollies
Boutique "in the City's newly opened Mid-City Arcade.

Alfredo Kouris, as
founder and Director of "Alfredo's Mens & Ladies Wear", was by
then well-known, and early in1969 he was visited on behalf of the
"Victorian Retailers Association" by Mr Redfern, Managing Director of
Buckley Ltd (now David Jones Ltd) and asked to join the governing board of the
Association, which was run at that time by the owners and Directors of
Melbourne's biggest Stores and Supermarkets.

That is how Alfredos started
his colourful career across five decades, making an extraordinary
contribution to the Victorian community, fully understand­ing what it is like
to come from a distant land and make Australia home.

Soon he became a
Greek Community Leader, well known businessman, politician, journalist and
publisher. He not only lived the life of the migrant, but delved into its
psyche, extolled its virtues, and worked diligently to generate acceptance.
Along the way, he sparked reforms that have re-shaped the way Victorians go
about their daily lives. Inspired by his Greek upbringing, Alfredo Kouris gave
Melbourne "Late-Night Shopping" with his campaign in the 1969-1970,
as founder and Chairman of "Make Melbourne Brighter Committee",
revolutionising retail business, in the process of which, he was arrested and
fined!

In the early
1980s, Mr Kouris pushed for the end of archaic drinking laws with his same
"Make Melbourne Brighter Committee", which was re­organised by him
with new young members, lawyers, journalists, shopkeepers and others with
vision.

Alfredo Kouris, as
a Publisher and Editor of "PYRSOS", the "New Torch Greek
Newspaper" and the "Omoyeneia" Greek Magazine, from July, 1985
until April, 1993, worked hard to introduce Greek Migrants in particular, and
all migrants in general, to stand in Local, State and Federal Government
elections with the catchcry of a "FAIR GO" for migrants. To set an
example, he stood himself as an independent candidate in Victoria in the Senate
Elections in 1970, in the Melbourne City Council Elections in 1972,1973 and
1974, and in the State Elections in 1976 as the Endorsed Liberal Candidate in
Brunswick.

Alfredo Kouris’ views
on prejudice, regularly made headlines, and he was involved in many complex
political, social and religious issues that the community at large faced, discussed
and resolved. He was respected for his leadership, vision and determination to
find a solution best for all, as President of the "Greek Orthodox
Community of Mentone & District" from 1962-1989, as a foundation
member of HACCI in 1984 and Vice-President in 1990-1992, and a Vice-President
of the "Victorian Federation of Greek Communities" in 1987-1989, and
Member of the "Festival Antipodes Executive Committee" in 1988-89.
Also, as a regular member of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and
Victoria from 1958 until now, and elected member of the Executive Committee of
the said Community from 1991-1992.

His understanding
of the migrant experience is encapsulated in the title of his book based on his
life:

"MIGRANT-The Blessing
& Misfortune of Loving Two Countries." It honours the millions who
left their homeland and settled in not only Australia, but around the world. It
highlights their challenges, joys and sorrows, but importantly, the remarkable
contribution they've made to the growth and change of their adoptive countries.

I have a signed copy of this book. It is a remarkable coverage of Greeks in
Melbourne, Australia, especially the life and times of Mr. Alfred Kouris. No
wonder Melbourne has been described as the third largest Greek city in the
world - CT

The release of his
memoirs brought world-wide recognition. He is listed in "Who's Who"
in the 21st Century" published by "The Cambridge Biographical Centre
in England, and his book is available in 250 American, European and Australian
University Libraries, 500 Greek & Australian State Libraries and 200
Australian Schools with "Languages Other Than English - LOTE"
programs.

Mr. Kouris at the Grand Ball in honour of Malcolm Fraser's

election as Liberal leader, July 1975.

Malcolm Fraser went on to become Prime Minister.

His research
inspired him to urge for a national "Migrants Day" as First Class
Citizens of the World, and upgrade recognition of the significance of the
pivotal World War 2 Battle of Crete, which saw Greeks and British, Australians
& New-Zealanders fighting side-by side for Freedom, Justice and Democracy.

Alfredo Kouris has
received numerous honours for his endeavours promoting community harmony,
including the Gold Cross presented to him by Archibishop Lezekiel in
recognition for services to the Orthodox Church, and Life Membership of La
Trobe University's National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research, where he
has also been allocated a room to display his very valuable archive materials.
He was also elected Life Governor of "FRONTIDA CARE Inc."

"Neos
Kosmos" in its English Edition on Monday, 15th of December published an
article entitled:

"Prominent Greek
Honoured", with the following comments: “ALFREDO KOURIS has never been one
to let things slide. He has always believed that if you want something bad
enough then you have to work hard to get it. And so he worked hard on fighting
for migrant rights and the rights of all Melbournians. He was even jailed once
in 1970, because he believed campaigning for late-night trading was a cause
worth fighting for.

Mrs. Kouris and son, Paul, now a prominent Barrister,

teaching the soon-to-be Prime Minister

a Greek dance.

As the founder of
Alfredo's Menswear, Mr. Kouris saw a niche for late night trading and launched a
campaign to have opening hours extended to 9 pm. "I wanted to bring
Melbourne alive and I knew late-night trading would help do that,"he
said. "I couldn't understand why the city should die every evening."
By defying the State Government and opening his six menswear stores past 5.30
pm, he was arrested and fined $8,000. One week later, the law was changed and
stores could now be open until 9pm.

He was honoured,
by receiving an award at Victoria's Award for Excellence in Multicultural
Affairs. "I always felt that I had to prove myself worthy of being
considered a first -class citizen in Australia," said Mr. Kouris. "I
started to say to migrants that we should prove ourselves by doing something
good for our new country."

In early 2004, Mr Kouris and wife,
Mitsi, who have three children and five grandchildren, celebrated not only 50
years of marriage, but of being a fine example of a young couple coming to
Australia with little more than a suitcase of dreams and making a wonderful
success of the migrant experience.

Alfredos Kouris
received an Order of Australia medal on the 12th of June 2006 from
the Governor of Victoria, His Excellency John Landy, AC, MBE, at Government
House … “For service to the community
through contributions to the business sector, raising public awareness of the
issues facing migrants, and to the Greek community.”

Clancy’s comment: What
courage and vision, eh? Mr. Kouris has achieved much in his new country.
Besides business, he has been a great mover and shaker within the Greek
community and Australian community in general, founding the Academy of Modern
Greek and is the Chair of Modern Greek at Melbourne University.

Not only, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kouris have also become prominent citizens, continuing the work of their parents. They are making a great contribution to Australia.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs.
Kouris, for your extraordinary efforts. Australia is a better place because of
you ... I’m glad you came.

Most people are involved in some form of social media, be it good or bad. I utilise all of them to promote myself as a writer and blogger, but I'm not so sure about Facebook. Can someone show me how to drive it? And, I'd rather be writing some scintillating novel than Facebooking or Twittering.

LinkedIn has been fantastic for me. I joined the organisation after my rather disappointing experience with 12 Australian major book awards. Now I have a massive collection of connections, some of whom have become great mates, and many have been guests on this blog. Why not? They are interesting people with diverse views.

So, here is an interesting article, courtesy of Jeff Bullas.

"Social media networks were a
novelty 5 years ago and today they are no longer debated around the dinner
party table.

The
conversation has moved on.

Facebook
is now part of most people’s web lives, Twitter is where a lot of people are
reading the breaking news and if you want to be entertained then just dial into
YouTube.

Despite
it’s minimal mindshare, media profile and awareness Google+ has woven its way
into our consciousness and is now the second largest social network.

As
if these social networks aren’t enough to distract us then we also have
Pinterest and Instagram to add to the online temptations.

The
social web is the modern version of Alice in Wonderland, where we are following
not one but many rabbits down innumerable rabbit holes.

What are 2 key factors driving the social web in 2013?

Mobile
– with the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone
increasing by 60.3% to 818.4 million in the last 2 years.

Older
users adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest
growing demographic at with 79% growth since 2012. The fastest growing
demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age
bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

These 2 key factors are keeping the social web
bubbling along. So maybe the reason your grandparents aren’t turning up to that
dinner party is that they have now discovered Facebook and Twitter!

So let’s look at some of the fact, figures and
statistics for the major social networks.

Facebook

Facebook continues to grow and work out how to make
money from its ads and mobile users.

Here are the latest facts and figures from itsearnings callfor the first quarter of 2013

You have glanced over the numbers. What has
surprised you or is it all a big yawn?

Was it the mobile stats, the increasing use of
social networks by 55 year olds or was it YouTube’s relentless rise?"

Clancy's comment: Many thanks, Jeff. Mm ... where will it all end? Many blogs and sites I have viewed or joined as a writer have made me shake my head. I mean, what does this mean, 'You follow me and I will follow you.'? Sounds like a game ... like teens asking each other how many 'Friends' they have on Facebook. Surely, it's about marketing your wares and your brand - not numbers, or who 'Likes' you. Personally, I don't need people to like me but I'm quite happy for them to love my books. It's all about what works for you, but do your homework.